School Profile: Selected Variables a

Year First Chartered

2001

Grades Served

K-7

Enrollment

278

Student Ethnicity b

59%
African-American, 41% Hispanic

Special Education

5%

Free or Reduced-price Lunch b

89%

Annual Cost per Student

$9,829

a Unless otherwise indicated, these data are reported by the school and are for the
school year 2006–07.b These data are drawn from the Carl C. Icahn Charter School school report card for
2005–06 posted on the New York State Education Department’s Web site.

Mission and Founding

Known as a "turnaround" principal, Jeffrey Litt has been working in the same five-mile radius
of the South Bronx for most of his 38 years in education. "I won’t take an easy assignment,"
he says. "I always work with the population that most people run from." Given the opportunity
to build a charter school from scratch, Litt jumped at the chance and has created a new
elementary school based on E.D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge curriculum, which focuses on key
concepts of western civilization in mathematics, language, science, history, music, art, and more.
With the financial backing of billionaire Carl C. Icahn, the eponymous school received its charter
in March 2001 and opened in September 2001 with grades K–2.

Constructed in three months out of modular portables on an empty lot, the Carl C. Icahn Charter
School has outgrown its original space. As of 2006–07, the child care and K–1 classrooms were
located across the street in the Icahn Homeless Shelter* while the school was completing building
an $11 million, five-story facility that will accommodate eight classrooms, a library, and
multipurpose rooms. Once this building is finished, the school will be able to expand from a
K–7 to a K–8 school.

* This shelter also is funded by Carl C. Icahn but as a separate entity from the school.

The school’s portable buildings are protected by a locked metal fence with curled barbed
wire at the top. A television monitor in Litt’s office enables
him to view the entire campus at any time. Understanding that, as he puts it, "A
reputation is everything in the inner city," Litt has worked tirelessly to ensure that the school
has a good reputation and commands respect. Prior to opening the school, Litt walked floor
to floor in neighboring high-rise housing projects to introduce himself, spread the word about
Icahn Charter School, and encourage parents to send their children to the new school.

Litt sets high expectations for school and students alike. The school’s mission is to prepare
its 278 students to be productive citizens through rigorous academics. As Icahn Charter
School board member Seymour Fliegel, president of the Center for Educational Innovation,
underscores, the school is dedicated to giving kids from the South Bronx the chance to succeed
at high levels: "Carl C. Icahn has a big thing for poor kids," Fliegel explains. "He cares
about the leadership of the school."

Based on Litt’s previous positive experience with the Core Knowledge program at another
school, he selected it as the path to implementing the school’s mission. Visiting a model Core
Knowledge program in Florida, Litt was told the curriculum would not work in the Bronx because
"the kids are too poor." Undaunted, Litt
listened and learned, ultimately choosing to use the curriculum, but to make some adaptations
that would render it more accessible to his particular inner-city students. For example,
Litt made sure to emphasize minority history and culture and connect those areas to mathematics
and science. In addition, Litt decided to extend both the school day and the school year
(September through July) to increase teachers’ opportunity to teach necessary skills and instill
a love of learning in students.

As the school looks forward to initiating an eighth grade, it intends to prepare students for
the New York City high school admissions tests for selective public schools, as well as for applications
to prestigious boarding schools, such as Connecticut’s Choate Rosemary Hall. Students
accepted to Choate may apply to become an Icahn Scholar, thus receiving full scholarship.

School Operations and Educational Program

Icahn Charter School is a safe oasis in a tough urban neighborhood. Litt describes the school
as "a huggy, kissy school," adding that "students don’t want to leave us at vacation." Parents
comment that Litt respects their families, noting that Litt always signs his letters, "Thank
you for your wonderful children."

During the school year, many students attend Icahn Charter School’s Saturday Academy from
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and almost half the students stay for extended care Monday through Friday until
6 p.m. The school population is 59 percent African-American and 41 percent Hispanic. Eightynine
percent of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. It also has a 95 percent
attendance rate. In the lower grades, students work at group desks in classrooms with colorful
displays on the wall and engaging materials on the shelves. In the older grades, students sit
in individual desks, lined up in rows, and focus on workbooks or textbook assignments. Every
classroom has three computers and a library of books for students to use.

Siblings of current students are automatically enrolled in the school, and a lottery assigns the
remaining slots. In 2006, 652 students were on the waiting list. Older children may apply for
openings in later grades. While many who enter in an upper grade must catch up to their peers,
those who have worked hard have been successful. Litt points to a third-grader who entered
Icahn Charter School unable to decode or read and ended the year passing the Iowa Test of Basic
Skills (ITBS) on grade level. "After the Iowa results in June, I called his mother to tell her his
results," Litt says. "She was screaming and crying into the phone, ‘Mr. Litt, I love you,’ and I
told her, ‘No, love him. He worked hard.’ "

The Core Knowledge program accounts for about 50 percent of the Icahn Charter School
curriculum. It is used in all subjects, and teachers supplement it with the McGraw-Hill reading
and mathematics program, an internal writing and literacy program, and manipulatives in science
and mathematics. As one teacher points out, Core Knowledge is about "exposure, introducing
students to phrases, art, music, geography, science, giving them a well-rounded
education." The program offers teachers a clear outline of what to teach, as well as a sequenced
grade-to-grade learning map that promotes consistency in instruction.

Teachers send home monthly syllabi that detail the topics or themes to be taught in the month,
a list of nightly homework assignments with due dates, and a schedule of quizzes and tests.
One parent refers to the school’s no-nonsense approach.
The school’s teachers have developed detailed rubrics to assess literacy and writing
at every grade level. Whether talking about a writer’s notebook, looking through a writer’s
poetry portfolio, or grading bimonthly assignments, such as literature responses, research reports,
and narrative memoirs, teachers, students, and parents are all in sync about how work is
assessed. Thus, it’s easy for parents to understand how their children are progressing.

To be promoted to the next grade, students must demonstrate 90 percent attendance, satisfactory
growth, a score of average or better on the ITBS, or a level 3 or 4 (out of four) on the
New York State English language arts (ELA) and mathematics exams, and be judged by teachers
as able to succeed at the next level. A full-time director of assessment monitors academic
progress using pre- and post-ITBS results as a baseline. Because the New York state exams begin
in third grade, the school has K–2 students take the McGraw-Hill Fox-in-a-Box literacy assessment
and uses the Waterford Early Reading Program to monitor these younger students’ reading progress.

The assessment director also identifies students who need skill development in the same area
and places them in four- to five-member groups for 40 minutes of remediation work five times a
week with the targeted-assistance teacher. These students also may receive help from a paraprofessional
during school, after-school tutoring, homework assistance, and weekend tutoring.
When all is said and done, the school will retain students who are not considered ready for
the next grade. As Litt says, "We don’t hesitate to hold them if we need more time." For the
5 percent of students who qualify for special education services, there is a part-time special
education teacher. Students who are referred to speech therapy can receive help from an afterschool
speech teacher.

Icahn Charter School also offers after-school activities, including a step team, cheerleading,
school newspaper, Girl and Boy Scouts programs, and mathematics and ELA targeted-
assistance tutoring. Students can play on basketball, flag football, volleyball, and softball
teams. Through the Charter School Athletic Association of New York, on Mondays, its
students can play flag football in the fall and run track in the spring at Icahn Stadium on
Randall’s Island.

External Partnerships

Parents or guardians are instrumental to their children’s success in school, and school staff are
in constant contact with them. If a student is absent, parents know to expect a phone call checking
up on their child’s well-being and asking why the child missed school. The school sends
narrative progress reports to and holds conferences with parents six times a year, but teachers
stay in touch more frequently by phone. Because 87 percent of the students are brought to school
by their parents, teachers see and speak with parents in person. At a schoolwide open house
at the beginning of every year, Litt makes clear that he wants to meet and talk with parents. He
starts by saying, "Don’t ever call the office to make an appointment with me." After waiting
to see the concerned expressions pop up on parents’ face, he cracks a big smile and continues,
"Come in, make yourself a cup of coffee. … Wait [and] I will make myself available as soon
as possible to meet with you. I am here every day until 7 p.m."

Parents also contribute their time to the school. They organize class parties, chaperone field
trips, and sign the reading logs, homework, and tests sent home. The school PTA meetings are
standing room only and have been known to last five hours. When seventh-grade teachers
wanted each of their students to have a calculator at home, all of the families found money to
purchase them. "You give parents a school that takes care of their kids, and you will get all the
parental support you need," comments board member Fliegel. Icahn Charter School also has
created opportunities for parents. At the school’s math fair, students present research on professions
to their parents, and then the parents learn how to navigate Excel spreadsheets to look at
information students compiled and engage in learning with their children.

Within the community, the school also partners with several organizations. Staff can refer
students to the Bronx Children’s Psychiatric Center for counseling. Grants from the Charles
Hayden Foundation support both operating expenses and camp opportunities for students.
The school also arranges summer camp experiences through the New York Times’ Fresh Air
Fund, and it connects students to twice-yearly arts programs at Columbia University.

Community partnerships also support professional development for teachers. Icahn Charter
School contracts with the City University of New York’s Creative Arts Team to conduct
storytelling and questioning skills workshops with teachers. Lehman College provides five
scholarships for graduate school and, together with the New York City Mathematics Project,
the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, CUN Y, provides two mathematics
consultants.

Governing for Accountability

Authorized by the Charter Schools Institute, the school’s charter was renewed for five years in
2005. A 10-member charter school board led by chairperson Carl C. Icahn oversees the school,
which is supported by collaboration between the Foundation for a Greater Opportunity
(which Icahn created in 1997) and the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association.
Representatives from area foundations and institutions, as well as from the PTA and the
school management team, have positions on the board. In contrast to the school principal who
concentrates on curriculum and school operations, the board focuses on accountability, advocacy,
and long-term planning.

The principal, the assistant principal of operations, the director of assessment, and the
staff developer meet daily as the school’s management team. There is also an administrative
team, which consists of the principal, the assistant principal of operations, the director of
assessment, the staff developer, the math coach, and the ELA coach. The teaching staff is made
up of two teachers at every grade level, three targeted-assistance teachers, two cluster teachers
for history and geography, three paraprofessionals, and one school aide.

Teachers have a designated common planning period every day, during which they can plan
together, develop instructional units, compose the monthly syllabi, and meet with support
staff to coordinate student assistance. The staff developer and curriculum specialists provide
in-depth support to teachers who submit their weekly lesson plans every Monday. The team of
coaches and the staff developer maintain a log of consultations to keep track of areas needing
improvement. There are also ongoing professional development workshops for teachers on
such topics as differentiated mathematics classrooms, research and grade-level rubrics, and
teaching grammar. Together, the teachers and staff developers have created high-frequency
word lists as well as rubrics for ELA standards, expository writing, poetry and narrative, research
reports, literature responses, and grade-level writing mechanics.

The school operates on a budget of $3,006,721, of which $198,884 comes from federal categorical
sources, $2,766,764 comes from the state, $32,173 comes from grants, and $8,900
comes from donations. The school expects to
spend $10,815 per student during the 2006–07 school year. Teachers are paid a salary on
par with the public school district, but are not eligible for the district’s pension, its housing
allowance for math and science teachers, or the larger salaries given to experienced teachers.
To help compensate for this discrepancy, the school offers teachers a 401(k), life insurance,
and bonuses based on schoolwide student performances.

Student Achievement at Carl C. Icahn Charter School

The 2005-06 English language arts results on the New York State Testing Program
(NYSTP) show that Icahn Charter School students outperformed those at all other
New York charter schools in grades 2-5 and were second to students at only one
other charter school in grade 6 for mathematics.

As shown in figures 14 and 15, Icahn Charter School students scored at least 40 percentage points higher on
the 2006 NYSTP than students in other district public schools.

In May 2006, the New York Board of Regents and the New York State Department of Education recognized the Carl C. Icahn Charter School as one of the state's 795 "high performing gap closing" schools out of 1,658 public schools and 288 school districts.